The present invention relates to articles and methods for supplying conditioning benefits to fabrics in an automatic clothes washer and dryer. The articles comprise a receptacle releasably containing a fabric conditioning composition.
The home laundering operation can provide an opportunity to treat fabrics being laundered with a variety of materials which impart some desirable benefit or quality to the fabrics during laundering. At each stage of the laundering operation (presoaking, washing, rinsing, drying) fabrics are, to varying degrees, found in contact with water which can provide the medium for delivery of fabric conditioning agents.
Delivery of fabric conditioning agents to fabrics during the laundering operation is not, however, accomplished without certain difficulties. Surfactants are generally employed during the presoaking and washing steps for the purpose of removing materials (soil) from the fabrics. Simultaneous deposition onto fabrics of fabric conditioning agents can, therefore, prove troublesome. While some of these problems can be overcome by conditioning fabrics in the automatic dryer (see, for example, Gaiser; U.S. Pat. No. 3,442,692, issued May 6, 1969), it is nevertheless exceptionally difficult to achieve efficient deposition in the dryer of all fabric conditioning agents. For example, it is difficult for dryer added fabric softener/antistat compositions to match the softening performance of rinse added softeners.
Attempts have been made to improve the efficiency of conditioning agent fabric deposition during the laundering process. Some of the attempts are found in the prior art references listed subsequently herein. Included in such previous attempts are articles/compositions which rely on a film insolubilization/solubilization technique to control the release of fabric conditioning agents. Such executions are, however, not free from problems.
The present invention is based on the discovery that fabric conditioning articles which rely on the insolubilization/solubilization technique oftentimes exhibit poor release of the fabric conditioning agents to the fabrics. This has been found in part to be due to high concentrations of insolubilization agent (i.e., electrolyte or pH control agent) being present around certain parts of film which envelopes the fabric conditioner. This high concentration results in the film becoming insoluble and not allowing for optimum conditioner release. It has been found by the present inventor that the high localized concentration and the problems associated therewith can be overcome by physically separating the electrolyte or pH control agent from the film coated active. This separation can take many forms, as will be indicated hereinafter. Surprisingly, although the insolubilizing agent is separated from the film, the ability of the agent once in solution to insolubilize the film is not hindered. The net result is that the separation eliminates many negatives while allowing the fabric conditioning agent(s) to perform optimally.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide articles which can be added to a clothes washer to condition fabrics in a superior manner concurrently with a washer and/or dryer operation. The articles are structured in a manner which overcomes many of the problems present in the prior art executions.
It is a further object herein to provide methods for conditioning fabrics during the home laundering process.
These and other objects will become obvious from the following disclosure.